For the record, I think that the highly ambitious and anticipated (but criminally stifled) Dangermouse x Sparklehorse x David Lynch project, “Dark Night of the Soul,” was one of the most surprising and impressive works of the year (as in, I heard it at the turn of 2010, and was utterly blown away at Danger Mouse’s ever-growing range of production work). IMHO. Occasionally I will subdue my boombap, zoomclap, thumpthump prevalence and dig back into rock roots, and this murder mystery is in true form, especially with the host of conspirators.

Except, I didn’t know until today that David Lynch put together a whole 100-page BOOK to accompany the work as a visual narrative. Not needing to remind you of David Lynch’s keen and visceral visual art and film work – provided with the music, this book of photographs would have been quite an awesome piece of storytelling, as the music was indeed dark, haunting, (though not subtle creepy like old Massive Attack / Portishead or aggro like something from COP Intl) and at times raw & primal. That minor chord, metal rock n roll energy fused with clean analog production and excellent songwriting and soulful rendition results in a lot of musical layers, something that pays homage to what you’d expect from this set of artists. (Thank you Iggy Pop you Son of Hades…)

The unfortunate thing is that EMI blocked all legal release of the music, choosing only to stream it via NPR. Not sure why, though many speculate it had to do with the latent statement of claim by EMI to this (very edgy and clever) Sparklehorse work (he had been signed to Astralwerks), presumably done AFTER he had been dropped by the label. Thus, the Lynch-produced book included not the true LP, but a blank CD-R, for “whatever purposes the listener may desire”… [ahem] highly suggestive, and rightly so, I think.

Overall, an interesting story around this project, now that I look into it (I hardly ever do, when I dig through the p2p’s). [*It’s funny how much you take for granted when your entire music experience is: 1) devoid of legal/illegal moral qualms/barriers. 2) devoid of any contextual media, ie. a straight up FTP style search, return, and transfers window]